Brooklyn Center superintendent has vision for beyond 'just' school

Brooklyn Center schools Superintendent Keith Lester wants to turn his schools into just about everything.

Lester, whose small, inner-ring suburban district has high numbers of poor and minority students, envisions the district's two schools -- Brooklyn Center High and Earle Brown Elementary -- along with one area learning center for kids who can't function in regular classrooms, as providing its students with much more than classrooms, cafeterias and gyms. He hopes to have turned his schools into veritable community centers in time for the 2009-10 school year.

Next fall, for example, the high school is expected to house a Park Nicollet medical clinic. That's a full-blown clinic, not just a school nurse.

Other pieces still need to be realized to make the plan complete.

Lester envisions that dentists with portable equipment would roll through the schools at appointed times, cleaning teeth and filling cavities. Both the elementary and the high school would have full-time, licensed psychologists, and the summer school program would include student lunches and breakfasts.

The concept is called "full-service community schools," and while districts in such cities as Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Tulsa, Okla., have embarked on community school initiatives, the idea is still new in Minnesota, with the exception of a handful of elementary schools in St. Paul, Lester said.

The idea is twofold: to get parents and their kids in the habit of coming to the schools more often and of making the schools focal points of the community, and to provide one-stop shops for time-consuming, but necessary, services that might go undelivered.

"In a broader sense, the school is the hub," he said. "The parents become more comfortable and get more involved because all the services are available here, and we get them in here and can talk to them about all the other things related to schools."

The result, he hopes, is healthier kids making better grades and better prepared for the world, whether it be college or a job.

"I'm a big believer at looking at barriers to learning," said Lester. "If you can find a way to get around those barriers, you can actually make a difference."

Some programs are already in place. For instance, the YMCA has a program housed in Earle Brown Elementary that provides students with after-school tutoring and physical activities. When the program started in January, 200 students signed up to participate, Lester said.

"We're hoping to expand that to 300 or 400 next year," he said.

As for the medical clinic, Lester expects that to get off the ground this fall after two years of talks with Park Nicollet. That will require some remodeling at the high school to create a clinic space. Lester envisions the clinic being open even past school hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Some startup costs will be involved, he said. He's hoping the district can plug into money coming from education grants, and maybe even federal stimulus money designed to prop up schools in these troubled financial times. Also, many of the services are already being provided for free or at reduced costs.

None of these services, Lester said, will take away from the schools' primary purpose: to educate children.

"From the [classroom] standpoint, parents are not going to see much of a change," he said. "What we think is that we will see more kids succeed."

Brooklyn Center has 1,750 students, of whom 70 percent are low income and 73 percent racial minority.